Money floods out of Iran (4)

Millions of pounds in private wealth has begun flooding out of Iran in the wake of mass demonstrations which have paralysed commercial life.

Fears of a new round of crippling sanctions are also thought to have fuelled the movement of money out of the country.

Western intelligence agencies have reported that prominent private businesses and wealthy families have moved tens of millions of dollars out of Iranian banks into overseas accounts.

The Italian foreign intelligence service is said to have detected multiple transactions, each of up to $10 million dollars, by Iran’s big four banks on behalf of Iranian families seeking a safe haven for funds.

Iran has already been hit by three rounds of financial sanctions from the UN over its nuclear programme, which have limited its access to international finance and world trade

A spokesman for HM Treasury hinted that further action could be taken, particularly in relation to Mojbata Khamenei, the powerful son of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who runs his father’s office.

“We do not have this person on the sanctions list and while we do put people on the list on human rights grounds we do it very much in conjunction with the EU and the UN,” the spokesman said.

“We can be very aggressive in pushing within those bodies, though I’m not saying we’re doing so in this case.”

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Updates:

4:51 pm EDT, June 25th, 2009 — Iranian diplomats disinvited from Canada Day ceremonies

5:04 pm EDT, June 25th, 2009 — Sensationalist Film Exploits Human Rights Issue in Iran

5:10 pm EDT, June 25th, 2009 — “I Am Burning”

Notes:

Canada should go further and expel the lot of them just on general principals.